Dont have enough time with the Slyr yet, and im gonna try and borrow the CAL from my stepfather over the weekend. So far, the CAL has a better soundstage and sound quality, but might be more obtrusive in the bass than the Slyr. Stay tuned, so I can form a valid comparison.

Well, played a few hours with the A50s on CoD4. The first preset (the bassy one) is absolutely unusable for online gaming. Waaay too dark, boomy, and bass oriented. The second preset worked well enough, and had a good mixture of warmth and balance, still being on the bassy side, and masked the details a little bit. The 3rd preset was colder, more dry, and more detail oriented, which lent itself well for gaming competitively. The 3rd preset did feel like the A40 of old, where the bass wasn't really strong, which I think is a good thing for the A50s.

The A50s have a pretty good soundstage for a closed headphone. Width was very good for a closed headphone, depth wasn't excellent, but positional cues weren't hard to discern. So far, it's a good enough headphone for gaming, but nothing about it 'wows' me. I'm definitely more impressed with the SLYR, even though it loses out on soundstage by a considerable margin. The A50s didn't have any interference or audio issues when gaming, so that's good. I'm also pleased to say that there is a negligible amount of hiss, noticeably less than the Mixamp 5.8. The mic was definitely pretty good, and I wouldn't expect any problems with it whatsoever. So far, the A50s are convenient enough, as it's wireless, the game/voice balance is on the right cup and easy to adjust, and does well enough for gaming, but nothing strikes me as being excellent except the microphone.

My main gripe on the headset itself is the preset switch. It's hard to adjust blindly, so I found myself overly feeling the cup to find the switch. Would be faster removing the headset off the head and seeing the switch. Also, whenever I was adjusting the headset on my head, I'd accidentally touch the volume control or the voice/game adjustment. That's more of a pet peeve, and not a real issue though. I don't think people would be constantly adjusting all this while actually gaming.

I'll give the A50 a VERY preliminary score of 7 (good) for fun (in Preset 2), and 7 (good) for competitive (in Preset 3), if my opinion of them holds. Good enough for all forms of gaming for those that absolutely need wireless, but not really comparable to the juggernaut headphones in that price range like the K701/Q701/PC360/DT990/HD598. The A50s just can't keep up with audiophile grade headphones.

For the buck, the Slyr's very preliminary scores are 7.5 for fun (very good), and 7 for competitive (good). It has a better tonal balance, clarity in the mids, tighter bass, and more pleasant sound overall. Yes, the A50s have a good soundstage, but the SLYR's surprising quality and affordable cost put it on par for me, so far.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the A40s with the Mixamp 5.8 would have fared even better overall. Again, this is very early impressions with ONE game. I think if they tuned the drivers to be less bassy, they could have a pretty good all rounder headset. I'll be testing them out with other games, so don't take those preliminary scores seriously. This is just how I feel about them at the moment.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 12/8/12 at 9:58am

So I just played two hours of CoD4 multiplayer with the Slyr. YES. OH YES. It mates with the Mixamp 5.8 quite nicely. The sound is well balanced with a tilt towardS bass, but in check.
I'm absolutely surprised that a sub-100 dollar headset could sound this nice.
Soundstage is small as expected, but positional cues were easy to pick up, and the clarity was good. I actually believe its better for gaming than I anticipated.
I couldn't get the mixer working alone properly (couldn't get chat to come up on my PS3), but the mic worked like a charm through the Mixamp. It sounds crisp and clear, no issues, though its a bit overly sensitive, so I'd advise on using a wind screen. I'm gonna use the one off my DX mic to see if it subdues its ability to pick up all sounds. Can't use the mic with my room fan on whatsoever.
I did test the eq settings on the Mixer plugged in through my PS3 composite cables, and the SQ did sound pretty good, though I find them unnecessary, as the innate sound sig was right where it needed to be. I can easily say I prefer the soung sig on the Slyr over all the headsets I have used.
More to come.edit: I'm an idiot. The Slyr IS circumaural. Barely, but it is. The trick is, you have to slide your ears into the cups, so the pads go around and over them, instead of on them. If you simply just place the Slyr on your head, the pads will rest on your ears, making them Supraaural/on ear. There is definitely just enough space to cover your ears without the pads resting on them. MUCH better comfort now.
Just watched a few TV shows, and the first thing that pops out is the vocals. For a bassy headphone, the vocals are pretty clear. Almost every bassy headphone except the HD650 and ESW9 have distant vocals. So far, im not hearing this distance with the Slyr. Refinement is debatable, but tonal balance sure isnt. The Slyr does many things right. Not forward mids, but not recessed.
I can see these being great for movies and tv.
So far, so very good for the price. I have a smile on my face. Never expected this.

You and me both. I put it in the 2012 Head-Fi Holiday Gift Guide in the gaming section.

I use it a lot, admittedly more for telephony than gaming (just because my time for gaming is so limited, and I'm generally on the phone for much of the day).

I almost considered putting the Skullcandy SLYR in the over-ear headphones section. For 80 bucks, it's a good closed headphone, period, and with the added functionality of a built-in stow-away microphone.

As has been covered before on Head-Fi, Skullcandy is getting very serious about sound. They've hired a lot of talent, and built their own labs, and have moved away from OEM to designing and engineering their own stuff. The SLYR is a product of those efforts, and a very good result.

The SLYR comes with a USB gaming sound mixer. To put it in non-gamer speak, this mixer is like a USB DAC (plus USB mic in) that also allows you to adjust audio settings, especially for mixing game audio and voice. It also comes with three different EQ settings. Because the mixer's cables are so long--and because I think the SLYR sounds better with music without the mixer (though the EQ is fun to experiment with while gaming)--I just plug the SLYR directly into my computer, or into one of my good USB DAC/amps, most of the time.

With or without the included mixer, the SLYR is very good for gaming. Its sound signature favors clarity over boom, though it still does a fine job of conveying sounds, impact, and effects of the death and destruction I usually find myself suffering from when I enter the gaming fray.

The thing is, when I'm done gaming--when I've plugged it directly into my computer or one of my good DAC/amps--I regularly forget to change the SLYR out for another headphone when I return to music. I'll say it again: this is actually a good $80 closed headphone. The SLYR's overall clarity is good. Its bass is well balanced, mids could use a bit more refinement and richness, and there's occasionally some mid-treble glare. Still, though, it's musical enough that I'll use it for an all-'round headphone on days I know I'll be Skyping a lot (its built-in stow-away boom microphone comes in handy). 80 bucks--a very good deal.

Indeed, the only people who are offended imo, are people who are too full of them selvs... sound is pretty subjective so EVERY one is going to have a slighty different view.

I know right, Bowei's given me a blunt beating a few times, and I'm glad he did <3 otherwise I'd have gotten the Xb1000 over teh Dt 880... and still be suffering with Muddy Music [I also think I'ma ditch my Xb1000 plans all together and go for the Dt 770 Pro 80, it's getting good reviews for Sub Bass, and well I like the 880 so :3 my collection could use another Byer can!]

I didn't really beat you lol. I was just putting small hints and queue's on getting a ......another headphone basically

Have you had any experience with regards to the Audio Technica ATH-AD900? It has always been my belief that in a series of products, higher model number equates to higher performance. Do the AD900s have a larger soundstage than the AD700?

edit: Just did an update on the A50's transmitter as well as the headset. Wonder what the changes will bring.

How did you update it? USB?

I wonder if the mixamp 5.8 Tx unit can be updated. When the mixamp 5.8 came out, Astro said they were going to release more accessories/upgrades for it's USB jacks, but they never got around to doing that.

Have you had any experience with regards to the Audio Technica ATH-AD900? It has always been my belief that in a series of products, higher model number equates to higher performance. Do the AD900s have a larger soundstage than the AD700?

No, not larger. They have slightly more bass and slightly more mids than AD700. Their soundstage isn't any bigger though, and the AD700 is actually airier and slightly bigger sounding mainly because the mids aren't as forward and sound more distant in the soundstage.

Astro has always kept the driver of their headphones pretty far away from your ears. I think they did this as a benefit for gaming as a more forward and direct headphone can be fun, for me they are also way more easily fatiguing. Just a thought

Well I am incredibly thrifty as well haha, so retail price wise I have atleast 700 into my gaming setup. I have a smaller tv ( better for competitive play) so thats most likely the main difference between our setups.

I play ps3 as well :) What headset are you using?

Cool, thanks for the input! I appreciate it. My subwoofers in my car are wired to 2 ohms, and they need a badass amp to push them, so now that i think of it why would they make the gaming headsets a lower ohm load then the other headsets, if these gaming headsets are supposed to be more versatile. (ie for ipods and a wide variety of sound sources) Wouldn't that just make them harder to push?

How do we check for the "hiss"? I haven't heard any hiss and I have been doing a good deal of testing on my 2013 mixamp.

Good on you! Ohhh man, that's it? Retail price of my stuff tops a grand easy. Lol. Not bragging or saying it's better or what not, but I didn't think I'd get this involved. I have a smaller TV as well. Check my profile for what I have. It's the best setup possible to me though. Nice! Ha, the picture that I'm rocking is what I have. AKG Q701.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolwatpear

Thanks man. I actually saw this thing a week ago and thought it was weird it was OOS. Where did you get the info that it would be back in stock in Jan? Is this thing highly sought out for?

Welcome. Oh, why? Yeah, it's was a rarer find for me. I contacted their support and Facebook. I guess? lol. I may just end up not getting it and getting an adapter for the Modmic, with that being it. My receiver has Dynamic DRC and DSP, so, it might apply to silent cinema.

Just realised that after all this time that I've had my M-Stage, I just never considered connecting it to my Astro Mixamp PRO for my PS3 (via optical). Now i'm thinking how do i go round doing this?-Cant think at the moment-..